Come see IMPM at the Design 2 Part show in Atlanta, Georgia on March 29th & 30th where we will be exhibiting our rapid prototyping and low volume production capabilities. The D2P show is a great show to stay progressive with current manufacturing trends and find suppliers for your project, and the best part is it’s free to attend! The show will be held at the Cobb Galleria Center at 2 Galleria Parkway, Atlanta, Georgia 30339, from 9:30 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. both days. IMPM will be at booth 212. Contact us to get your free registration form.

In the product development world, many large prototypes are produced by casting a polyester resin with a filler for reinforcement, more commonly known as fiberglass. This process is popular as materials are comparatively cheap and finished parts tend to have moderate tensile strength. Often, however, fiberglass prototypes wont mechanically resemble their production counterparts. For example, a fiberglass prototype won’t have nearly the same properties of the same production part that’s from an injection molded polyethylene material. This may cause issues when testing prototypes for functionality, as you don’t get true representation of engineering intent.

For a better embodiment of production properties, urethane castings should be used to produce prototypes. Urethane resins are constantly being improved and come in an extensive array of mechanical properties ranging from elastomeric, high rigidity, high heat resistant, high impact resistant, and various regulatory ratings like UL ratings and FDA compliancy; a lot of urethane resins are produced to mimic production plastics. The silicone used to make the molds and the urethanes are both extremely impressionable, so the appearance of the parts can be of much higher quality if the master pattern used to make the mold is of high quality. However, the biggest advantage casting urethane has over fiberglass is repeatability. Once a mold is made, it takes minimal effort to produce parts, unlike fiberglass where the filler must be manually applied for every casting. Urethane castings give you the ability to produce production quality parts that represent true engineering intent.

Come visit IMPM at the Design 2 Part show in Long Beach, California, on October 26th and 27th. At booth 313, we will be showcasing all of our rapid prototyping, rapid tooling, and production capabilities. The show will take place at the Long Beach Convention Center at 300 East Ocean Boulevard, Long Beach, CA 90802. We look forward to chatting with you!

Aluminum tooling is an under utilized method of mold making when it comes to injection molding. IMPM has utilized aluminum tooling for over 20 years and has been able to fabricate molds at much lower cost and much shorter lead time than the competition. The article in the link above outlines how other companies have utilized aluminum tooling and benefited greatly. Definitely worth a read.

Congratulations! You’ve spent months designing the next medical device that’s going to change the world (or more realistically a very specific community in need of a very specific type of medical attention) and now you’re ready to test your design. What now, do you spend a ton of money on hard tooling for a device that might sell 80 units annually? Do you compromise your design to fit the model of a company promising the lowest cost injection molding tooling? Or do you utilize the best option for low-volume production? The silicone tooling and cast urethane process is the perfect fit for these types of jobs. For a fraction of the tool cost (generally thousands of dollars vs. tens of thousands of dollars), you can still achieve a production quality part that still has desired mechanical properties, the repeatability of other traditional molding processes, and a near impossible to beat lead time. Silicone tools do have a smaller yield, IMPM guarantees 100 shots from its silicone tools, which makes it perfect for these small production runs. Sure, not every medical device is going to have such small production quantities, but this process still allows you to produce the highest quality prototype (form, fit, function) without breaking the bank. Urethanes are produced to mimic almost all production materials, including materials that are:

Come see us at the Design 2 Part show in Marlborough, MA, at the Royal Plaza Trade Center from September 30th- October 1st. We will be set up at booth number 516. Register now for free admission and check out what IMPM has to offer. For more information, check out the Design 2 Part website (http://www.d2p.com/ShowInfo).

IMPM will be set up at Booth 561 at the Design 2 Part show in Marlborough, Massachusetts at the Royal Plaza Trade Center. Shows dates are Wednesday, October 1st from 9 a.m.- 4 p.m., and Thursday, October 2nd from 9 a.m.- 3:30 p.m. The address for the Royal Plaza Trade Center is 181 Boston Post Road West, Marlborough, MA 01752.

IMPM will also be exhibiting at the Design & Manufacturing Midwest Expo, at the Schaumburg Convention Center, October 15th and 16th. We will be set up in Booth 629; the address for the Schaumburg Convention Center is 1551 Thoreau Dr. North, Schaumburg, IL 60173.

These shows are a great opportunity to let IMPM show you our capabilities and how we provide top-quality solutions for prototyping, product development, and low-volume production. As we continue to advance our industry, we continue to exceed expectations and set new standards.

We are pleased to announce the arrival of two new Haas VF2SS CNC Machines along with a new Haas TL1 lathe. The additional equipment gives IMPM the ability to process your aluminum tooling for product development and low volume production runs quicker and more efficiently. With over 40 years of experience rest assure that all aspects of your project will be handled and streamlined from start to finish. Some Advantages of aluminum tooling:

IMPM has always been the leader in product development using silicone tooling and cast urethane parts, guaranteeing 100 shots from our silicone tool. We now offer you another avenue to for your product development needs. As always we look forward to providing you with outstanding service and quality parts. Let IMPM handle your next project.